A woman documenting the proposed route of new border barriers through Big Bend National Park says she saw a vehicle associated with Southwest Valley Constructors enter River Road West while the road remained closed to the public.
Natalie Newman said her effort to follow and document the U.S. Customs and Border Protection route through the park has been stalled for weeks because much of the proposed route follows River Road.
The unpaved backcountry road has been closed after heavy rains caused washouts and other damage. Newman said park administrators told her they did not know when the road would reopen and that access would not be provided to anyone until the road was open to everyone.
“The road is still closed. The gates are closed and locked,” Newman wrote in a Facebook update Saturday. “But this morning, I witnessed contractors letting themselves through.”
Newman shared an image showing a yellow pickup truck turning onto River Road West. She identified the vehicle as belonging to Southwest Valley Constructors, a subsidiary of Kiewit.
It was not immediately clear whether the company had received special authorization from the National Park Service, CBP or another federal agency to enter the closed area. Contractors working on federal projects are sometimes granted access to areas that remain closed to the general public because of construction, maintenance or safety concerns.
Southwest Valley Constructors has been associated with federal border infrastructure projects. Newman is documenting where barriers and related construction could be placed inside the national park and how the work could affect the surrounding landscape.
The sighting raises questions about access to the closed road as contractors conduct work connected to a project that has drawn public concern over its potential effects on wildlife, historic resources, wilderness and views within the park.
Big Bend National Park officials and Southwest Valley Constructors had not publicly responded to Newman’s account as of Saturday.
